Beryl Blessing

One year ago, our area was parched and thirsty for rain following a rather dry winter, which came on the heels of a dry fall, and a hot (and, you guessed it) dry summer. It was so dry that when lightning struck a tree in Holly Shelter Game Land on June 19th, 2011, not only did a wildfire erupt to engulf trees and shrubs, the 30,000-acre fire also consumed the soil in which the plants were rooted.